Egmont triumphs to bag B B Alston début

Egmont has bought UK rights to what is undoubtedly the book of this year’s Bologna Children’s Book Fair: B B Alston’s Amari and the Night Brothers.

Ali Dougal, Egmont Fiction publishing director, paid six figures for UK and Commonwealth rights, winning a six-publisher auction for three books in the Middle Grade fantasy series. The deal was conducted by Gemma Cooper at The Bent Agency.

The title was sold into nine territories in the week and a half before the fair; Cooper closed deals in the Netherlands and Hungary yesterday (2nd April), in addition to striking the UK deal. An auction for US rights was ongoing as The Bookseller Daily went to press.

Dougal said: "Amari and the Night Brothers is going to be a huge book for Egmont. It’s insanely commercial, filmic and spine-tinglingly magical, and we can’t wait to collaborate with publishers around the world to make [Alston] a star, and his book the biggest global children’s launch of 2021."